Category: Campbeltown

58.3% alc./vol.
Springbank Distillery, Campbeltown, Campbeltown, Scotland

"Guns on the Grouse Moor".

We continue with special bottling of Springbank, distributed by none other than Scotch Malt Whiskey Society is offered to us today.

If you do not know the SMWS you can keep reading. If you prefer to go directly to the evaluation of this traffic jam, you can skip the next two paragraphs that I keep going over and over in this type of article.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society , or SMWS , is the largest whisky club in the world, with more XNUMX XNUMX members spread across XNUMX countries. With their roots in the UK, they are so extensive that they can afford to buy whisky casks and bottle them for sale exclusively to their members.

Always single casks, bottled cask strength without any mention of the distillery, their expressions are always highly praised and worshipped. Although the percentage of alcohol and the age of the whisky are indicated on the mysterious bottle, no mention of the distillery of origin is found there. The only clue to its origin is in the form of a cryptic code that cannot be deciphered until one has access to the appropriate legend.

The mysterious company presents us here a 16 year old Springbank, distilled on May 31, 1998 and aged in ex-gorda of sherry, for a final harvest of 738 bottles.

As the English writer and journalist Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name, put it so well George Orwell (1903-1950) said so well:

A naughty thing, even in fashion, remains naughty ...

Amber-pink rather neutral.

Nose:
Assertive cereal, honey and jams, all surrounded by a kind of cloud of rot, as if we had forgotten to close the lid of the trash. Some salty jerky and peat smoke develop later.

Taste:
In the mouth a little acid, medium texture, oranges, vanilla, sherry, red fruits and oak. A nice mix that almost makes you forget the dubious nose.

Finish:
The flavors mentioned above are always at the rendezvous, but a kind of aura of dyes dyes all.

Balance:
Without being totally base, it is an example of a mixture which, without being completely unbalanced, remains more or less good.

Note: ★★★★★

46% alc./vol.
Springbank Distillery, Campbeltown, Campbeltown, Scotland

Today we return to this region of Scotland that we rarely visit, Campbeltown, with a traffic jam of a venerable age, the 18 Year Old Springbank.

The distillery Springbank obtained its distillation license in 1828, although it was operating illegally long before that, and since its inception has used barely peated barley to make malt that is distilled two and a half times. Their process involves three stills, and only half of the second distillate passes into the last.

This 18 year old is composed of 80% whiskey that has aged in sherry barrels, and 20% that has been kept in bourbon barrels.

As the painter from Lorraine said so well Georges de La Tour (1593-1652) said so well:

Don't try to drown your problems in alcohol, they can swim ...

Pure golden sun yellow.

Nose:
Sea water and sweet smoke. Grass and mentholated cereal. A bit of iodized peat.

Taste:
Honey and spicy vanilla, passion fruit. Oily texture on beautiful peaty sugars.

Finish:
Short but very saline and fruity on an old worn tire.

Balance:
Excellent, but over $ 200 and for a 18 year old I was expecting a bit more.

Note: ★ ★ ★ ★★